jimmymcgoochie

Today I took someone’s carefully designed VTHL SSTO rocket, and proceeded to ruin it by stapling a load of boosters on the sides and crashing it a few times in my quest for greater payload to orbit. Final results aren’t terrible- 220 tons to orbit for 102k funds per launch, or about 450 funds per ton which incidentally is double what my current 30 ton SSTO spaceplane can do but with >7x the capacity. All it took was “ignore max temperatures” so everything didn’t explode during re-entry then “unbreakable joints” and “no collision damage” plus 0.1x time warp so everything didn’t explode during the landing, but aside from that no problems at all…

The 5m tanks are in the very last fuel tank node.

I think you just got to it while that side was in shadow. I only noticed it after turning on reflections as it’s nearly invisible without that.

Linus: Psst, hey Val! Val: Are you trying to be sneaky or something? Linus: ...no? Just take a look at this and tell me what you think. Linus: What does it say? Val: I think it says... *clears throat* FNaBHbIN(hat) AN3aN(hat)Hep! Linus: Wha-? What does that mean? Val: I have no idea! It's like a scientific calculator threw up on a plaque! Linus: But I thought you could speak this, whatever it is. Val: Where did you even find this? Linus: It's written on AN-2, one of the Ultra-Rovers drove over there to check it out in more detail than the old Amphibious Rover did a couple of years ago and the new cameras spotted it. Linus: But really, "N(hat)"? Val: Like you'd do any better *** That font change can only mean one thing- it's Probe Time again! Moho Rover 1: 9/10. Transfer burn to Moho split into two periapsis kicks to reduce the final burn duration and avoid crashing into the atmosphere. Poor initial accuracy required course correction, but will arrive in around 110 days and has ample fuel reserves for capturing. And now for something a little different. Or in this case, a gargantuan different. Ultraheavy Lifter: 3/10. Repeated engine incinerations, booster collisions, engine failures and generally not making it to orbit, but that's why we do these "simulations" in the first place. Symmetrical booster separation is aesthetically pleasing and also seems to result in fewer post-separation booster collisions, which will be good for the eventual goal of recovering the boosters and core to reduce overall costs. Further work is still required on this design to allow it to reliably reach orbit with the current payload. Oh yeah, the payload. It's 1500 tons. PER LAUNCH. Yes, it costs over 2 million funds per launch as well so the funds per ton is pretty poor compared to the existing fleet of SSTOs, but come on- 1500 tons per launch, and scope to increase that further once the kinks get worked out of the system. Like the engines melting each other, for example... Mortimer: Bill, Bob, what are you doing? Bob: Don't look, Morty! Bill: You really don't want to know. Mortimer: It can't be worse than that hideously expensive nuclear powered Moho transfer stage, can it? Bill: ... Bob: ... Mortimer: Oh dear... Bill: 1500 tons per launch, but that sort of lift capacity doesn't come cheap. Bob: 2.1 million funds per launch, we're still working on getting it working properly and making it more reusable at the same time. Mortimer; You realise that that thing would spend all our currently available funds in one go, right? And what exactly do you need to launch 1500 tons into orbit for? Are you planning to relocate the VAB into space? Bob: That's not the worst idea, actually. Bill: Mine ore on the Mun, turn it into rocket parts on site and launch from there without having to deal with the gravity and the atmosphere on Kerbin. Bob: Or even better, start on Dres- even less gravity, no radiation hazards, we can mine fuel from Minmus and shuttle it across- where'd he go? *Gene's office* Mortimer: I quit.

Is this better now?

You really need to put better RCS on that thing, those puny fore/aft thrusters are useless. The Minmus part recovery is probably feasible with a rover to grab it and an engineer or two to weld it to the rocket to take it back. Also, Hedwig?

Logs? If the game is continuously throwing exceptions then that would make it run really slowly, and would also be very conspicuous in the log files. If you recently added AVP, did you remove the default EVE configs (BoulderCo) or whatever you were using before? Having several conflicting configs might make a difference on a sufficiently large scale of a planet, without showing up much/at all in flight because you only see a small part of the planet at once.

After wandering in search of anomalies, one of my rovers hunted down Anniversary 2; for those of you who haven't found that yet, spoiler alert! However, revisiting the same location this afternoon with the reflection settings turned up, I noticed something that I've never seen before- there's a plaque with Russian writing on the bottom: So here's the mystery: what's this a reference to? Perhaps it's a nod to HarvesteR? Anyone else seen this before, or any official KSP people have a definitive answer?

Would it be possible? Probably- interstellar drives suck as Daedalus have theoretical delta-V that runs into tens of megametres per second (a megametre is a million metres, or a thousand kilometres) and while Kerbal stuff is usually worse in terms of mass ratios (everything is heavier, so less delta-V) it’s not too outlandish to suggest that a Kerbal craft could theoretically go from Kerbin to Duna inside 12 hours with a semi-brachistochrone trajectory. But- and this is the key point- why would you want to? Such a feat is also possible with KSP and the right mods, but it’s a lot easier (and less expensive!) to go the long way round with a Hohmann transfer, and if you really wanted to go straight there you’d use a mod that can accelerate time and/or allow thrust under time warp, which KSP2 will allow exactly because using interstellar drives will take (Earth) days to accelerate to their top speed and back down again.

Huh. Maybe that’s because I ‘m using Soundtrack Editor, I thought that was a stock folder? In that case, I don’t think you can get hold of any of the game’s internal music. Sorry for the bad information

I’d expect to see at least some of the original anomalies- the monolith near KSC, maybe a Mun arch or the Duna “face”, but probably not all of them; I’d be pretty surprised if the 10th anniversary anomalies that were added in 1.12 appeared in KSP2, as well as things like the Kerbin and Mun UFOs, the Duna pyramid and its SSTV signal or the dead Kraken on Bop. There will probably be new anomalies to find in the new solar system(s) too, but what they’ll be is anyone’s guess.

There’s nothing to be more specific about- go to the KSP directory and inside it there’s a folder, called Music, containing music.

Rendezvousing was done in the dark. As is right and proper. -Forgotten Space Program

Yes, but this series is on a temporary pause. A while ago my GPU died and while I was waiting for a replacement I started a new career game in a much more stock-ish KSP that turned into a mini story (INto the Snarkiverse) that’s taking up nearly all my KSP time right now. I’m also running a space race and so trying to complete my own challenges to know if they’re possible, which takes what little KSP time is left. Don’t worry though, Terranism Space Program will return!

What exactly is wrong? Do you have the icons for the buildings on the left side of the screen? If not, you might need to clear input locks (either through alt+F12 to bring up the cheats menu then finding the input locks tab and clicking the button, or by using the ClickThroughBlocker mod which adds a button to the toolbar to do this more easily) which might fix things right away. Without a mod list, log files etc. there’s very little we can do to help.

That was not the way to do that plane change- add some retrograde into it to hold the periapsis at 300km while changing the plane. Also, you should have just braked as soon as the plane change was done to bring the periapsis down then circularised sooner. Re. the solar issues, maybe try a different version of Kopernicus? You could also use the Kerbalism automation features to turn things on/off automatically when power is low or the craft is in shadow, and you can do so from anywhere at all- KSC, tracking station, while flying another craft… That probe tried to play The Floor Is Lava, but the floor WAS lava and it lost…

Linus: Time to come home, my pretty! Gene: OK, while Linus is busy caressing the computer screen, everyone else listen up. We've got another asteroid coming past Kerbin soon and it looks like it's a bit bigger than the last one, but with a periapsis a bit further out. Wernher: This is an ideal opportunity to get some valuable samples of an asteroid without having to chase after one in a solar orbit. *scowls at Bill and Bob* Make sure we have enough space for all the samples this time... Cliff (Wernher's new intern): *walks in with a cake covered in fireworks* Happy new year everybody! *firework-induced craziness, minor fires, that sort of thing* Wernher: Those fireworks are for outdoor use only! Cliff: oops... Gene: How can it be New Year's Day already? I thought the last one was only a few munths ago? Bobak: Have we been running this thing for two years or three now? *fire suppression systems deploy* Gene: Everyone out! *outside* Bobak: Roll call complete, one unaccounted for. Gene: Who? Bobak: Val. Wait, what's that Kronus doing on the runway? Gene: Uh oh... Val: So long, suckers! All your space rocks are belong to me! Bobak: We need to lock the controls out! Gene: We can't get back into Mission Control until the fire safety officer resets the system. Wernher: Who's the fire safety officer? Bobak: You? Wernher: Am I? *rummages in pockets* ...mulch. I knew I forgot something. *runs off towards staff car park* *** Val: Hello? Anyone? There's a problem with this asteroid, it's actually heading straight towards Kerbin. Val: Hellooooo? Val: No, seriously, this one's actually going to hit Kerbin. And it's A LOT bigger than the last one. You guys need to start evacuating people or something. Val: ...guys? You're actually starting to scare me a little bit. This rock is pretty huge and coming down pretty steep, it'll probably make it down to the surface largely intact and I can't even budge it with this rocket. Val: OK, stuff this- samples acquired, I'm OUTTA HERE! Slow down slow down slowdownslowdownslowdownslowdownslowdownSLOWDOWN!- BOOM! Val: Hnnnnnngggggg, that hurt. I think I can still taste my kidneys. How many Gs was that, 20? 30? Val: ...you know what? You can keep your stupid rock samples. I'm done. Maybe I can hitch-hike to Baikerbanur and start my own space program or something... *** It's that time again! (What time, you ask?) Why, Probe Time, of course! Joolshot 1: 1Á/10. Sufféred s☺me data corru²çion due të exÐ{ssive radíatio▼ expÌsure, lack ☻f Ñ ├█↑ı|gR|ȶ○ NullReferenceException: Object not set to an instance of a variable. Attempting to reconnect... Bob: Uh oh, looks like Joolshot 1 is in trouble. Bill: The signal was so weak to begin with, all that radiation is probably scrambling it beyond the computers' ability to comprehend. Bob: Telemetry for the course correction burn looks good though, we'll get flybys of Tylo, Vall and Laythe in that order without any further course changes. Wernher: And then straight into the inner belt which will kill it for sure. Bob: Ah. Bill: We can still send commands to it though and the data drives seem to be holding up pretty well, so if we reserve all the transmission bandwidth for telemetry and trickle back the visible images we should still be OK. Linus: OK, I have a crazy idea that might just work. Wernher: Here we go... Linus: During its time orbiting Jool, the probe has managed to pinpoint the orbit of an unknown body that seems to be in a resonance with Vall. If we brake the probe into orbit of Laythe *here* and then do an escape burn *here*, we can intercept that unknown body in a few days' time. It'll use quite a bit of fuel, but the probe has fuel to spare anyway. Bob: That... actually sounds like a good idea. Bill: I concur. Let's do it. Gene: That's weird, I thought the sun was bigger than that. Bob: That's not Kerbin, Gene, that's Laythe. Joolshot 1 just captured into orbit, now we're about to leave orbit again and chase after a mystery moon. Gene: *rubs forehead* I need to cut down on my caffeine intake... Bob: Aww, we lost the signal completely now. Bill: Looks like the transfer burn worked, now we just have to send a command to try and capture at periapsis over this mystery moon and hope the probe manages to carry it out. Mortimer: Is that Jool? That's a great shot- we'll sell so many T-shirts with that. Bill: While we wait for that to happen, how about another test of the new mining and fuel manufacturing equipment? Bob: You read my mind. Linus: Kerbin Ultra-rover 3 is approaching the Badlands. Stay safe, my precious! Gene: Badlands aren't "bad lands", you know, it's a geological term that refers to an erosional landscape with lots of deep ravines and gullies- Linus: Really? Because I don't see any ravines or gullies on the cameras. Jeb: Maybe they're under quicksand. Linus: Q-quicksand!? Bobak: I thought you were on the Azimuth Station? Jeb: I was, but then some of the newbies started showing early signs of space madness so we decided to come home and let another crew live in that collection of tin cans in space. No biggie. Gene: There's no quicksand in the Badlands. Linus: But how can you be sure? There must be a reason why they're called "Bad" lands after all! Gene *sigh* thanks Jeb... *** Bill: Looks like the mining rig is still producing far too much oxidiser compared to fuel. Bob: Not too surprising, considering we have to liquefy the hydrogen which reduces its volume by a factor of a thousand. We might need to use the bigger ISRU units for fuel production and/or the smaller chemical synthesis units to make oxidiser. Bill: I'm bringing it back in. Bill: Maybe we can try making monopropellant next time? Bob: Hmm, that could be a trickier production chain. Worth a try though. *** Automated Deep Space Network probe control system online. Attempting to establish data connection with vessel [Joolshot 1]. > >> >>> >>>> >>>>> Connection failed. Attempting to establish basic telemetry feed from vessel [Joolshot 1]. > >> >>> >>>> >>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>>> Connection established. Onboard analysis of sensor data initiated. Excessive radiation levels detected. Mission status: 27 entered SOI of [unknown]. Comparing radius, gravity, terrain height, surface albedo and spectroscopic data from [unknown] with reference data [pre-Anomaly_planetary_data.dat]. 1 match found: [Eeloo]. Mission status: 17 entered SOI of [Eeloo]. Rendering model of spacecraft relative to target body. Alerting Mission Control. Radiation damage detected. System will now shut down for fault recovery. Connection lost.

Tenuous connection time: much of the KSP soundtrack was written by Kevin MacLeod; he also wrote a lot of other music, including a piece called Space Fighter Loop which featured in a few of @Gordon Fecyk's JNSQ exploration videos (e.g. part 4.5 at about 7:00); I recognised that piece because it was also used in a game called Robocraft which I played a lot in the past; some time in 2015, something called a "Cluly ball" was popular in Robocraft: Which I think bears at least a passing resemblance to the Nara anomaly, as seen in the JNSQ exploration, (see the video above, at 21:30) which is in KSP. And now that I've confused absolutely everyone...

KSP/Music, there are folders for music played in editors (construction) and in space (space). Not all the music can be accessed, I believe some of it is compiled e.g. the main menu theme. There’s a mod called SoundtrackEditor that allows you to add your own music directly into KSP, it’s a bit different to most other mods as you have to add files to folders other than GameData but it can make a big difference if you’re fed up of the same six tunes on a loop.

Wow. Until now I had absolutely no idea what the Nara anomaly was, despite trying to find it at least once before. I’ve been writing a KSP story set in JNSQ for a while and had some ideas about Nara, but this actually fits in better than I could ever have hoped for. On a semi related note, did anyone else get some protomolecule vibes from that thing?

After several attempts (followed in each case by a KSP crash) I finally got a return course plotted for my Eve sample return craft. Not returning samples from Eve’s surface, oh no! Just mystery goo and materials bay samples from space around Eve and Ike, with a bonus mystery goo sample from solar orbit. Too bad it’s in nearly a Kerbin year and will take half a year more to make the trip… I also discovered that my cunning plan to launch a series of evenly spaced relays on solar orbit has gone a bit wrong- the relays that are in position are spaced evenly, but I incorrectly used Kerbin’s orbital period to time their escape burns and their final orbit is quite a bit higher; net result, six nicely spaced relays taking up about a third of the orbit and leaving the remaining part of it devoid of relays. This might require some fixing, however the relays do have quite a bit of fuel left…

First time I tried RSS, I put together a rocket that had the delta-V for stock Kerbin, launched it.. and fell wildly short of orbit. Turned on infinite fuel to see just how far short I was and watched the rocket gain another 6km/s before making orbit, at which point I said “nope”and deleted all things RSS from my computer for well over a year. Getting things right in RSS/RO(/RP-1) is more of an achievement than stock, but the challenge is also much greater and requires a lot more planning and less winging it, more payload optimisation to shed every last unnecessary gram and less “MOAR BOOSTERZ!!!!1!ONE!1” to brute force your way through.

I’d like to join, but between running my own space race, an active career report (plus one in RP-1 that I still need to pick up again) and all those boring “life” things I’m not too sure how much time I’ll have for it. Put me down as a maybe and once the rules/goals are done I’ll get back to you.

As soon as you moved those RCS thrusters up, I could see explosions in your future. Should’ve decoupled the stage in space, then time warp would have let them move away; though under those circumstances I’d have kept the upper stage and braked aggressively once over the mountains to drop down on the KSC.

It might be a bug in KSP 1.12 as I've seen heard it before in 1.12.1, but it could be related to Waterfall and/or Restock as those do change some engine sounds. Try without Waterfall/WaterfallRestock and separately without Restock and see if either of them have the same issue?